Atlanta Falcons' Mohamed Sanu, New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees, Oakland Raiders' Derek Carr, Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott and New England Patriots' Tom Brady each had the strength to come through during a key moment and contribute to wins during Week 8.
Thanks to those strong performances, each player is up for Castrol EDGE Clutch Performer of the Week honors. This is a deeper look at the significance of those conquests.
Mohamed Sanu, Atlanta Falcons
Strong stats to consider:
» Not only did Sanu snag the game-winning TD, but his nine catches on Sunday are the second-highest reception total of his career.
» The Falcons' offense has been surging, scoring 30 or more points in five of eight games this season. They scored that much just twice all of last season.
Power of the moment: The Falcons were down late in the game against an Aaron Rodgers that was in fine form. With just 36 seconds remaining, Sanu grabbed an 11-yard pass from Matt Ryan for a touchdown. They won 33-32.
Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Strong stats to consider:
» It's no secret that Brees and the Saints have been more effective at home. In his last 11 home games, Brees has a completed 70.6 percent of his passes, has thrown 34 TDs, six INTs, averaged 375 yards per game and has a 115.2 passer rating.
» After starting the season 0-3, the Saints have now won three of their last four games.
Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders
Strong stats to consider:
» What a day for Carr. He became just the third player since 1950 to throw for over 500 yards, four TDs and no INTs in a single game. The other two players on that list are Ben Roethlisberger and Y.A. Tittle.
» Carr also set a Raiders franchise record for passing yards with 513. The previous record was 427 yards, thrown by Cotton Davidson in 1964.
Power of the moment: The Raiders not only won after being down 24-17 with just two minutes left in the game, the win was also despite giving up 200 yards on 23 penalties. After tying the game and a pair of missed field goals from Sebastian Janikowski late in the game, Carr threw a pass to Seth Roberts, who ran it in for the win in OT.
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Strong stats to consider:
» Prescott is continuing his winning ways. He joins Ben Roethlisberger as the only rookie QB since 2000 to win six or more of their first seven starts. Big Ben went 13-0.
» Prescott is on pace for the fourth-best single-season passer rating in Cowboys history with 99.6. This rating would be higher than any single-season rating by Troy Aikman.
Power of the moment: Rallying his team from a 10-point deficit, Prescott threw a late TD to Dez Bryant for the tie and the game-winner to Jason Witten in OT. The Cowboys are now 6-1.
Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Strong stats to consider:
» Brady's favorite month is clearly October. Since 2014, Brady is now 12-0 in October with 37 TDs and just one INT. Make a note of this for next season and just start marking Ls on the calendar if your team plays the Pats in October.
» On third downs this year, Brady has thrown five TDs, no INTs, has a completion percentage of 77.1 and a passer rating of 158.0. Since Brady's return, the Pats have outscored opponents 136-71.
Power of the moment: Brady is continuing his MVP season. The Pats are now 4-0, averaging 34 points-per-game and 17.8 points-per-game allowed. Brady has also thrown 12 TDs and no INTs. If you're waiting for the Patriots to fall, it is looking unlikely to happen soon as just one of their next five games are against teams with a winning record.
Follow Daniel Williams on Twitter _@danielwilliams_.
